Binges don’t come from nowhere — they follow patterns, and the pattern this list usually under-weights is restriction itself. Dieting produces bingeing by replacing physiological controls with cognitive ones: in the founding 1975 preload experiment, as reported by Polivy and Herman, restrained eaters given a milkshake afterwards ate about 66% more ice cream while unrestrained eaters ate about 47% less, and the effect responds to a perceived rule violation rather than to calories. Fairburn’s formulation names the loop — rigid rules, inevitable breaking, self-blame, abandonment, binge, tighter rules. Other triggers are real too: emotions, situations, specific foods, with boredom behaving distinctly from sadness. What you can name, you can address. And a lapse is not a relapse — what predicts collapse is declining self-efficacy, not urges.
This companion covers why triggers matter, the categories, identification, and management. (6 min read)
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